Mental health help in Gilroy, California, call 408-767-2337

Kerstin Helgason, PMHNP
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified

Kerstin is a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Psychiatric nurse practitioners are similar to psychiatrists and can prescribe psychiatric medications, diagnose mental health problems, and provide psychotherapy.

Kerstin sees people ages 18 years and older anywhere in California and Arizona and has limited availability for new patients and is only seeing new adult patients for medication (no longer seeing new patients for therapy or new adolescent patients).

Services

Prescribe psychiatric medications for adults (no longer seeing new adolescent patients).
Provide psychiatric evaluation, including diagnosis of mental health conditions and recommendations for options for treatments for adults.
- Common problems include: depression, anxiety, including post-partum depression or anxiety, OCD, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, PTSD and complex PTSD.
Psychotherapy for adults (though not currently offering for new patients).

Quilts, such lovely metaphors about life, scraps made whole again.

About Kerstin

Quilt maker and survivor. Mental health care helps people heal emotional wounds by listening to and understanding a person and their life story. Everyone’s story is complex and unique. Composed from a lifetime of experiences, the story is also the source of healing. Understanding a person and their story helps develop effective treatments that can reduce suffering and nurture self compassion and healing, and is my hope for everyone.

I am a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and have a Master of Nursing degree as a PMHNP from Oregon Health and Science University and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology degree as a psychotherapist from Pacific University. I completed the Master Psychopharmacology Program, through NEI (Neuroscience Education Institute) and have extensive training in psychopharmacology.

I have worked with people who have complex mental health problems and diverse backgrounds, and everyone is welcome here.

I mainly prescribe psychiatric medication, but also have experience with Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness and Compassion based therapies, and therapies to help people who have experienced childhood abuse or trauma, including sensorimotor and poly-vagal based therapies, and specialize in working with people with complex PTSD, a form of PTSD that develops from interpersonal abuse or neglect.

For more information, call or email today.

Books I Love

How To Change Your Mind, By Michael Pollan, Humans, psychedelics, and the potential for healing.
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, by Kristen Neff, PhD and Christopher Germer, PhD. A must read for trauma survivors. Beginner's guide to mindfulness, shame, grounding, and trauma concepts.
Radical Acceptance, Embracing Your Life with the Heart of the Buddha, by Tara Brach, PhD. Introduction to the concepts of Radical Acceptance and Mindfulness.
The Courage to Heal, A Guide for Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis. Explains impact of childhood sexual abuse, including social dynamics that allow for abuse to happen, as well as specific activities for healing.
The Body Keeps the Score, Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD. Explains impact and process of trauma on the body and mind.
Braving the Wilderness, The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, by Brene Brown, PhD. Shame and how it affects just about everything.
Dare to Lead, by Brene Brown, expands on Braving the Wilderness with more detailed explanations and examples.
Victims No Longer, The Classic Guide for Men Recovering from Sexual Child Abuse, by Mike Lew. Introduction to healing for men who experienced childhood sexual abuse.
The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation, by Deb Dan. Explains how the body and mind respond to trauma and how to re-pattern the nervous system away from trauma responses.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Interventions for Trauma and Attachment, by Pat Ogden and Janina Fisher. Connecting the body and mind with attachment and healing concepts. Especially helpful with dissociation.
Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey. Stories of learning to be in the moment with one's own heart felt truth.

The Healing Metaphor of Quilts, Scraps Made Whole Again.

Most everything about a quilt can be a metaphor for change and healing in a person's life. The pieces of fabric alone each have their own shape and character. Cut from new or old pieces of cloth, scraps of fabric can symbolize so many things: parts of ours lives, feelings or experiences, different aspects or qualities to ourselves, or the people and relationships around us as well as others.

The thread is the healing, how simple and slight this fiber is, and yet it binds it all together with a simple loop. The thread is the connection that pulls us together again and binds our souls to our experiences and the people around us.

Healing is attending to our hearts, sewing the pieces together, one stitch, one thought, one feeling at a time, where each of the pieces are lovingly drawn together until they form a new, uniquely heart-sewn quilt.

Join me in 'quilt making', scraps made whole again.

What will you do with your scraps?

Gilroy Office